{"id":694621,"date":"2026-05-09T19:45:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/694621\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T19:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:45:18","slug":"astros-vs-reds-game-thread-game-40-5-9-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/694621\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros vs. Reds Game Thread: Game 40, 5\/9\/2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

TODAY\u2019S GAME: The Houston Astros (16-23) and Cincinnati Reds<\/a> (20-19) play their second game of a three-game series this afternoon at Great American Ball Park with first pitch scheduled for 3:10 p.m. CT.<\/p>\n

RHP Spencer Arrighetti (4-0, 1.96 ERA) is on the mound for the Astros looking for his fifth consecutive winning decision, while the Reds will have RHP Chase Burns<\/a> (3-1, 2.20 ERA) on the mound today.<\/p>\n

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MOM\u2019S SPAGHETTI: After starting the season at Triple A Sugar Land, RHP Spencer Arrighetti has been strong in his four starts for the Astros this season. He is 4-0 with a 1.96 ERA (5ER\/23IP) with 25 strikeouts, 14 walks and a .195 opponent batting average.<\/p>\n

In his last start on Saturday May 2 at BOS, he allowed one run on five hits and five walks with four strikeouts in five innings.<\/p>\n

RECENT SUCCESS: RHP Spencer Arrighetti was recalled from Triple A Sugar Land on April 15. Since making his season debut, he ranks first in the AL in wins (4), eighth in ERA (1.96), 10th in opponent batting average (.195) and T-12th in strikeouts (25).<\/p>\n

VS. THE REDS: The Astros have faced the Reds 858 times in their history, their most games played against any other Major League franchise, going 404-453-1 in the all-time series.<\/p>\n

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The Astros went 2-1 against the Reds in 2025 at Daikin Park. Last night, the Astros secured the first win at Great American Ball Park since Sept. 9, 2012.<\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S ROSTER MOVE: The Astros placed LHP Bennett Sousa<\/a> (retro 5\/6) on the 15-day IL due to left elbow inflammation. To take his place on the active roster, the Astros have recalled RHP Jayden Murray from Triple A Sugar Land.<\/p>\n

NO. 600: IF Isaac Paredes<\/a> played in his 600th career game last night at CIN. He became the 14th Mexican-born player to reach this milestone, joining players like IF Vinny Castilla, IF Hector Torres and C Alex Trevi\u00f1o.<\/p>\n

OHIO NATIVES: RHP AJ Blubaugh and IF\/OF Zach Dezenzo<\/a> are both from the state of Ohio.<\/p>\n

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Blubaugh<\/a> attended Clear Fork High School in Bellville, OH. Dezenzo attended Marlington High School in Alliance, OH and also played college baseball at Ohio State University.<\/p>\n

ON THE MEND: LHP Josh Hader is scheduled to make a rehab appearance with Triple A Sugar Land today.<\/p>\n

AIR YORDAN: LF Yordan Alvarez<\/a> is off to a hot start this season, batting .324 (47\u00d7145) with nine doubles, 13 HR, 29 RBI, 22 walks and a 1.080 OPS (.424 OBP\/.655 SLG).<\/p>\n

In the AL, he ranks first in extra-base hits (22), second in OPS, second in SLG, third in OBP, third in batting average and third in home runs.<\/p>\n

CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With 238 career homers as a second baseman, Jose Altuve<\/a> needs one more to tie Lou Whitaker for seventh place all-time in MLB history among second basemen. Altuve also needs two RBI to become the fifth player in franchise history to reach 900.<\/p>\n

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HIT PAREDES: IF Isaac Paredes has hit safely in 14 of his last 17 games dating back to April 19, a span in which he\u2019s hitting .339 (21\u00d762) with three doubles, three homers, 10 RBI and a .947 OPS.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he\u2019s reached base safely in 12 straight games, posting a .440 OBP in that span.<\/p>\n

ROAD WARRIOR: In 15 road games (12 starts) this season, IF\/OF Brice Matthews<\/a> is batting .333 (15\u00d745) with eight runs, three doubles, two home runs, 11 RBI, seven walks and a .993 OPS.<\/p>\n

In his young career on the road, Matthews is hitting .304 (21\u00d769) with six home runs, 20 RBI and a 1.025 OPS.<\/p>\n

HISTORIC HOMERS: Yordan Alvarez is off to one of the most prolific starts in franchise history. His 13 HR through the club\u2019s first 39 games of the season are the tied for the second-most in franchise history, behind only 1B Lance Berkman\u2019s 14 home runs in 2002.<\/p>\n

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BACK-TO-BACK: LF Zach Cole<\/a> and C Christian V\u00e1zquez<\/a> smacked back-to-back home runs last night in the ninth inning at CIN. This marked the first time this season the Astros have smacked back-to-back home runs, with the last time being Sept. 28, 2025 at LAA by IF Ram\u00f3n Ur\u00edas and IF\/OF Brice Matthews.<\/p>\n

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!: The Astros would like to wish RHP Tatsuya Imai<\/a> a happy 28th birthday.<\/p>\n

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 2000 \u2013 3B Ken Caminiti hits the first grand slam by an Astro at Daikin Park in a 13-8 comeback victory over the visiting Rockies<\/a>. He hits the homer off Rockies starter LHP Scott Karl.<\/p>\n

The slam marked Caminiti\u2019s only career grand slam at the venue. OF Carlos Lee owns the stadium record with four career grand slams at Daikin Park.<\/p>\n

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Game Info<\/p>\n

Game Date\/Time:\u00a0Saturday, May 9, 3:10 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

Location:\u00a0Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, OH<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0Space City Home Network<\/p>\n

Streaming:\u00a0SCHN+<\/p>\n

Radio:\u00a0KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TODAY\u2019S GAME: The Houston Astros (16-23) and Cincinnati Reds (20-19) play their second game of a three-game series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[5,3616,47639,141,48,9027,708,1250,535,50,4259,1350,9718,54,893,44839,817,6133,4,536,168,4678,4658,2264,43882,453],"class_list":["post-694621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-reds","tag-baseball","tag-bennett-sousa","tag-blubaugh","tag-boston","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-brice-matthews","tag-chase-burns","tag-christian-vazquez","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-cincinnatireds","tag-fenway-park","tag-great-american-ball-park","tag-houston-astros","tag-isaac-paredes","tag-jayden-murray","tag-jose-altuve","tag-massachusetts","tag-mlb","tag-reds","tag-rockies","tag-spencer-arrighetti","tag-tatsuya-imai","tag-yordan-alvarez","tag-zach-cole","tag-zach-dezenzo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116546340337232967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}